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Recording Mixes

I know I could have better setups and such, but we all gotta start somewhere. That said...

I have recently been applying to Dj at different places around town, and I wanted to make a demo disc to show off the transitions and music selection. It just seems like everytime I make a mix, either I can't hear it out of the speakers during the mixing process, or it's cranked way too loud. I got it to the point that it's not distorted on normal headphones or pc speakers. The problem seems more like when I burn my cd, and stick it in my car. I end up with way too much bass in my mixes cause I can't hear it when I'm mixing. I know that mixing it on a dance floor, I could adjust the eq to sound way better.

Setup is:
2 turntables
2 output from my pc
4 channel mixer

2 out from mixer 1 to live and other to my microphone input on my pc.

Like I said it sounds fine just about everywhere except when I add a subwoofer to the mix then I have to fade it away from the sub to get a good mix. Is there any good software to record microphone input and normalize it, or should I just use audacity to normalize it after I record it?

what sort of headphones are u using?

Well your first problem is using the mic input to record. You're always going to get shitty recordings. You need to use a line-in input. If you don't have one, get a better soundcard.

quote:

Originally posted by ClearVision what sort of headphones are u using?

I don't remember the exact type (My friend was letting me borrow his set, he mixes hiphop and I don't really have the money to go out and buy a nice set. He said they were worth about $400 when he let me borrow them.)

Opening the files up in audacity shows the volume way too loud. I think it's just my bass settings. In my car, it reminds me of the clubs where the bass is really loud, but you can still make out the top part, just not as good as a mastered cd by armin or someone...

quote:

Originally posted by Noctone Well your first problem is using the mic input to record. You're always going to get shitty recordings. You need to use a line-in input. If you don't have one, get a better soundcard.

Did you read this post?
You cannot connect a line output into your mic input!
Simple problem solved right there.

quote:

Originally posted by Jakor I don't remember the exact type (My friend was letting me borrow his set, he mixes hiphop and I don't really have the money to go out and buy a nice set. He said they were worth about $400 when he let me borrow them.) Opening the files up in audacity shows the volume way too loud. I think it's just my bass settings. In my car, it reminds me of the clubs where the bass is really loud, but you can still make out the top part, just not as good as a mastered cd by armin or someone...

The other guy made a good point that I didn't notice at first... you need to input your audio to your computer using something other than the mic input... like a pair of composites. Check out some sound cards... a good external one I use is the Maya 44 USB for around $80 if I remember correctly.

And regarding Audacity, make sure that the recording level is set so that the audio isn't clipping against the top and bottom of the channel (1 Db). You will get some pretty bad distortion otherwise.

If you get your recording settings tuned right, you should be able to put out a very good sounding mix

So basically, recording through the mic input is causing my music volume to jump up alot? The quality is all there when recording, it just seems recorded too loud (mainly bass wise) compared to the live output. I split the mix into different mp3's for the tracks if you guys want me to upload one of the tracks.

If I set the fader on my deck in my car 10 forward (out of 15) then I can turn the volume up loud without distortion/too much bass.

I realize that I could get some other recorder, but I was thinking that I might have something set too agressive since I'm not getting enough volume out the live mix (no amps)

quote:

Originally posted by Jakor So basically, recording through the mic input is causing my music volume to jump up alot? The quality is all there when recording, it just seems recorded too loud (mainly bass wise) compared to the live output. I split the mix into different mp3's for the tracks if you guys want me to upload one of the tracks. If I set the fader on my deck in my car 10 forward (out of 15) then I can turn the volume up loud without distortion/too much bass. I realize that I could get some other recorder, but I was thinking that I might have something set too agressive since I'm not getting enough volume out the live mix (no amps)

Make sure the master gain on your mixer is set right... and make sure your windows recording level (windows volume control) is set right... this will require some experimentation... play a track and get all your levels where you want them.

Just listen...
You cannot connect a line level output to a mic level input!
Its like connecting two different plugs, just because it fits doesnt make it correct.
Buy the beheringer soundcard if you dont have much cash.
Nomatter what, recording line level through a mic will sound like poo. A mic input is made for a microphone because they need to be treated differently.

quote:

Originally posted by T-Soma A mic input is made for a microphone because they need to be treated differently.

yea I think the mic input is amplified

the statement that you cannot record via mic in is wrong for most laptops these days, which no longer have seperate mic and line in sockets, but auto-detect what the signal is.
If you have a seperate line in then that is what you should use, if not the mic should work ok.

in audacity there are level meters which will tell you if the input is clipping, check that first. If it is then nothing you do to the recording afterwards will help much

What lappy do you have Jakor?

Dell 8600. 2 years old.

I had the laptop volume turned down to about 3/4ths had the gains turned up just below peaking off of reading the mp3's, gains on the individual channels were at 12 o clock, eq's never went above 12 o clock, sliders on the mixer were at 6.5, master on the mixer was 12 oclock. The only thing that should have been set aggressively was possibly the gains (from the mp3) but not by much (when those gains are set too high, I get distortion).

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